Mobile robots have recently been deployed in public spaces such as shopping malls, airports, and urban sidewalks. Most of these robots are designed with human-aware motion planning capabilities but are not designed to communicate with pedestrians. Pedestrians that encounter these robots without prior understanding of the robots’ behaviour can experience discomfort, confusion, and delayed social acceptance. In this work we designed and evaluated nonverbal robot motion legibility cues, which communicate a mobile robot's motion intention to pedestrians. We compared a motion legibility cue using Projected Arrows to one using Flashing Lights. We designed the cues to communicate path information, goal information, or both, and explored different Robot Movement Scenarios. We conducted an online user study with 229 participants using videos of the motion legibility cues. Our results show that the absence of cues was not socially acceptable, and that Projected Arrows were the more socially acceptable cue in most experimental conditions. We conclude that the presence and choice of motion legibility cues can positively influence robots’ acceptance and successful deployment in public spaces.

中文翻译：

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嗨，机器人，你要走哪条路？人机空间交互的非言语运动易读性提示

移动机器人最近已部署在购物中心，机场和城市人行道等公共场所。这些机器人中的大多数被设计为具有人类感知的运动计划功能，但并非旨在与行人通信。在没有事先了解机器人行为的情况下遇到这些机器人的行人可能会感到不适，困惑和延迟的社会接受度。在这项工作中，我们设计并评估了非语言机器人运动的易读性线索，该线索将移动机器人的运动意图传达给行人。我们比较了使用“投影箭头”的运动清晰度提示和使用“闪烁灯”的运动清晰度提示。我们设计了传达路径信息和/或目标信息的提示，并探讨了不同的机器人运动场景。我们使用运动可读性提示视频对229位参与者进行了在线用户研究。我们的结果表明，提示的缺失在社会上是不可接受的，而在大多数实验条件下，“投射箭”是更容易被社会接受的提示。我们得出结论，运动易读性提示的存在和选择可以对机器人在公共场所的接受和成功部署产生积极影响。